Government Control Of Communications Technology

The internet allows for the sharing of knowledge, communications, and business transactions on a global scale. Governmental regulation of the internet varies among different countries and regions of the world.  The benefits and burdens of such regulatory policies should be considered

Synergy Of Incident Management And Real-Time Technology: The Next Step In The Evolution Of Supply Chain Management

Over the last two decades, the culture of the supply chain environment has transformed from one of mass production and distribution to one centered on pull-based demand sensing and response.  This transformation, in turn, has necessitated the use of more efficient supply chain operations.  One of the cornerstones of efficient supply chain operations is just-in-time (JIT) delivery and inventory reduction, both in-transit and in-facility (Anderson et al 2003, Simchi-Levi et al 2000).  The goal of JIT, a sub-part of a larger concept referred to as time-critical logistics (TCL), is to facilitate the delivery of materials only as they are required.  This practice, in turn, leads to improved efficiency by reducing inventory costs and idled capacity.  In addition, JIT provides increased customer orientation and responsiveness; two very critical elements in an environment of intense competition and rising fuel prices.  A vital part of JIT is the routing and scheduling of shipments.  Therefore, in order to effectively manage JIT, accurate predictions of routes and travel times are essential. (Miller et al 1999).  The JIT approach has dramatically increased the importance of reliability and efficiency throughout supply chain operations, in such areas as the sourcing of goods, transportation, manufacturing, and distribution. &nbsp

Perspectives On The LEED (Leadership In Energy And Environmental Design) System As A Green Certification Standard

As we begin to reach the limits of Earths biosphere, ensuring that sustainable practices are integrating into new buildings and into older buildings are crucial to remove unsustainable strains on the environment. This paper seeks to examine the merits and disadvantages of LEED as a certification system in the context of environmental sustainability. While there does seem to be legitimate criticism of the LEED system, it does serve to bring and legitimize sustainable development to an area that has a profound and continual effect on the environment. The systems should be continuously examined and revamped in the context of improving the integration of environmental sustainability into commercial and residential development. LEED has the opportunity to be revamped, improved, and to become a powerful force in promoting environmental sustainability in construction

Enhanced aging properties of HKUST-1 in hydrophobic mixed-matrix membranes for ammonia adsorption.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in their free powder form have exhibited superior capacities for many gases when compared to other materials, due to their tailorable functionality and high surface areas. Specifically, the MOF HKUST-1 binds small Lewis bases, such as ammonia, with its coordinatively unsaturated copper sites. We describe here the use of HKUST-1 in mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) prepared from polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) for the removal of ammonia gas. These MMMs exhibit ammonia capacities similar to their hypothetical capacities based on the weight percent of HKUST-1 in each MMM. HKUST-1 in its powder form is unstable toward humid conditions; however, upon exposure to humid environments for prolonged periods of time, the HKUST-1 MMMs exhibit outstanding structural stability, and maintain their ammonia capacity. Overall, this study has achieved all of the critical and combined elements for real-world applications of MOFs: high MOF loadings, fully accessible MOF surfaces, enhanced MOF stabilization, recyclability, mechanical stability, and processability. This study is a critical step in advancing MOFs to a stable, usable, and enabling technology

Law, Business Strategy, And Social Change In The Global Environment

In this article, we examine the dynamic relationship between law, economics, and sustainability. Increased legal regulation is not a sufficient condition for the mitigation of economic and social crises. Corporations are not legally required to respect global social and human rights under international law. In addition, select legal regulations increase social harm through the preservation of corporate financial interests. Laws that attempt to protect social rights at the expense of corporate interests can provoke hostile reactions from the business community. However, recent trends and examples from within the pharmaceutical and information industries suggest a new era of global corporate citizenship where socially responsible organizations achieve profit through pursuing ethical goals

Asymmetric warming over coastal California and its impact on the premium wine industry

Climatic changes over coastal California from 1951 to 1997 may have benefited the premium wine industry, as seen in higher quality wines and larger grape yields. Observed temperature warming trends were asymmetric, with greatest warming at night and during spring. Warming was associated with large increases in eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures (SST) and amounts of atmospheric water vapor. Although the average annual temperature warming trend was modest (1.13°C/47 yr), there was a 20 d reduction in frost occurrence and a 65 d increase in frost-free growing season length. In the Napa and Sonoma valleys, warmer winter and spring temperatures advanced the start of the growing season by 18 to 24 d, and enhanced atmospheric water vapor resulted in a 7 % reduction in evaporative demand. Given the strong coupling between Pacific SSTs and the coastal California climate, and because regional-scale SSTs persist for 6 to 12 mo, additional research may allow the possibility of predicting vintage quantity and quality from previous winter conditions

Identification of Arhgef12 and Prkci as genetic modifiers of retinal dysplasia in the Crb1rd8 mouse model.

Mutations in the apicobasal polarity gene CRB1 lead to diverse retinal diseases, such as Leber congenital amaurosis, cone-rod dystrophy, retinitis pigmentosa (with and without Coats-like vasculopathy), foveal retinoschisis, macular dystrophy, and pigmented paravenous chorioretinal atrophy. Limited correlation between disease phenotypes and CRB1 alleles, and evidence that patients sharing the same alleles often present with different disease features, suggest that genetic modifiers contribute to clinical variation. Similarly, the retinal phenotype of mice bearing the Crb1 retinal degeneration 8 (rd8) allele varies with genetic background. Here, we initiated a sensitized chemical mutagenesis screen in B6.Cg-Crb1rd8/Pjn, a strain with a mild clinical presentation, to identify genetic modifiers that cause a more severe disease phenotype. Two models from this screen, Tvrm266 and Tvrm323, exhibited increased retinal dysplasia. Genetic mapping with high-throughput exome and candidate-gene sequencing identified causative mutations in Arhgef12 and Prkci, respectively. Epistasis analysis of both strains indicated that the increased dysplastic phenotype required homozygosity of the Crb1rd8 allele. Retinal dysplastic lesions in Tvrm266 mice were smaller and caused less photoreceptor degeneration than those in Tvrm323 mice, which developed an early, large diffuse lesion phenotype. At one month of age, Müller glia and microglia mislocalization at dysplastic lesions in both modifier strains was similar to that in B6.Cg-Crb1rd8/Pjn mice but photoreceptor cell mislocalization was more extensive. External limiting membrane disruption was comparable in Tvrm266 and B6.Cg-Crb1rd8/Pjn mice but milder in Tvrm323 mice. Immunohistological analysis of mice at postnatal day 0 indicated a normal distribution of mitotic cells in Tvrm266 and Tvrm323 mice, suggesting normal early development. Aberrant electroretinography responses were observed in both models but functional decline was significant only in Tvrm323 mice. These results identify Arhgef12 and Prkci as modifier genes that differentially shape Crb1-associated retinal disease, which may be relevant to understanding clinical variability and underlying disease mechanisms in humans

Fabrication of Multifunctional Electronic Textiles Using Oxidative Restructuring of Copper into a Cu-Based Metal–Organic Framework

This paper describes a novel synthetic approach for the conversion of zero-valent copper metal into a conductive two-dimensional layered metal–organic framework (MOF) based on 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexahydroxytriphenylene (HHTP) to form Cu3(HHTP)2. This process enables patterning of Cu3(HHTP)2 onto a variety of flexible and porous woven (cotton, silk, nylon, nylon/cotton blend, and polyester) and non-woven (weighing paper and filter paper) substrates with microscale spatial resolution. The method produces conductive textiles with sheet resistances of 0.1–10.1 MΩ/cm2, depending on the substrate, and uniform conformal coatings of MOFs on textile swatches with strong interfacial contact capable of withstanding chemical and physical stresses, such as detergent washes and abrasion. These conductive textiles enable simultaneous detection and detoxification of nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide, achieving part per million limits of detection in dry and humid conditions. The Cu3(HHTP)2 MOF also demonstrated filtration capabilities of H2S, with uptake capacity up to 4.6 mol/kgMOF. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy show that the detection of NO and H2S with Cu3(HHTP)2 is accompanied by the transformation of these species to less toxic forms, such as nitrite and/or nitrate and copper sulfide and Sx species, respectively. These results pave the way for using conductive MOFs to construct extremely robust electronic textiles with multifunctional performance characteristics